Nominate Annie Proulx for the Nobel Prize?

[Shakesthecoffecan]

Jeff Mann, the Virginia Tech professor who wrote that really moving piece about going to see BBM for the first time, might also know some good departments to start with.

Holy Mole, I had been hoping to have an opportunity to contact him.

[Lynne]

Holy Mole, I had been hoping to have an opportunity to contact him.

Well, there you have it, shakes!  Let me know what I can do to help.

This is a worthwhile pursuit for three reasons I can think of off the top of my head:

1) It might actually work!

2) If it doesn't work, many influential literary scholars/professors will be exposed to Annie's work who otherwise may be unaware; if they feel a passion for her work also, undoubtedly they will pass that passion to future generations through their own work.

3) It is a way to tangibly demonstrate to Annie the influence she has had on so many and our love and devotion to her.

[Katie77]

Come on........A Nobel Prize.....you have to be kidding.......

Below is a copy of a post and my reply in the thread about "back stories".......

Annie doesnt need a Nobel Prize, she needs a word processor to complete her story, not rely on everyone else to complete it for her.......

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Quote from: Front-Ranger on Today at 04:56:13 am
So, we need a lot more backstories to flesh out the short story, since Annie didn't write a novel. How did Ennis come to know Alma, for instance, and what role did their siblings play in all that? Why was Lureen so hot for Jack that night? Whatever happened to the little boy with glasses at the fireworks display? What diid the Basque do during the off-season? Where did the jolly preacher end up after he kissed the brides once too often? What happened when the older guy got up the courage to go talk to one of the pool players? How did the lady get all those tattoos? Where were Trudy and Elizabeth going anyway? Who did Troy finally hook up with? What about all those cowboys who went to Denver?


Below is my response to this thread

These, and a thousand other questions and answers that never got explained in the story.......

I know I have hit this subject many times before, about the writing abilities of Annie Proulx......my opinion is, and has always been, that she failed.....all she could manage to accomplish was a "draft" of a story, not a complete story....I wish she had given that "draft" to a real author to be completed as it deserved to be completed.........

[Front-Ranger]

You would post this in TWO PLACES??  Okay, then, please let me know what author you do think is a success and should be nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature. I definitely want to read this person's work.

[Katie77]

You would post this in TWO PLACES??  Okay, then, please let me know what author you do think is a success and should be nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature. I definitely want to read this person's work.

Like i said in the other thread, I do not have any "superior intellect"....but I do think I am "realistic"......

If I were laying bets, I wouldnt be putting any money on Annie....

[moremojo]

I must admit that my respect for the Academy went down the drain when they year after year failed to award Swedish author of children's literature Astrid Lindgren. She died a few years back, after a long life well lived, an event that created immense national mourning in all of Scandinavia. If ever an author deserved the prize, it was her. One can only surmise that the pompous old guys were of the outdated opinion that children's literature, even of her exceptional quality (and quantity) is not "literature". My respect for the Swedish Academy and the AMPAS actually are on the same level. I think both are uninformed and pathetic enough to snub Annie Proulx.

There probably is something to the male bias, however unconscious it may be in our supposedly more enlightened era. I'm surprised that Doris Lessing, a very highly regarded writer whose work is frequently anthologized, has yet to garner the Nobel. She is quite aged now, and could well end up permanently snubbed like Astrid Lindgren.

[Front-Ranger]

There probably is something to the male bias, however unconscious it may be in our supposedly more enlightened era. I'm surprised that Doris Lessing, a very highly regarded writer whose work is frequently anthologized, has yet to garner the Nobel. She is quite aged now, and could well end up permanently snubbed like Astrid Lindgren.

You're right, she should have won it after "The Golden Notebook." Do you think she suffered from being a former communist?

[Mikaela]

I think she suffers from being a woman. 

Okay, then, please let me know what author you do think is a success and should be nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature. I definitely want to read this person's work.

As an a propos to this, it's interesting to note that my country's society of novelists (or whatever the English title would be) has proposed to the Academy that Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen should be awarded the Nobel prize for Literature. They assert it's not the form and format of the writing, but the consistent literary quality that is of importance. I can't quite see the Academy going along with it. But you never know!

[moremojo]

Do you think she suffered from being a former communist?

I don't think that is the most likely reason for her being overlooked. Certainly many recipients of the prize have been leftist in their politics (I'm thinking right now of Jean-Paul Sartre, who declined the prize), and/or have hailed from socialist regimes (Boris Pasternak comes to mind).

At the same time, I would be wary of overemphasizing a lack of sensitivity towards the feminine on the part of the Swedish Academy. Toni Morrison, for example, is a recent high-profile woman recipient. There are no doubt a variety of factors that play into a writer's winning (or not), but still, judging from Lessing's fame and recognized talent, her omission continues to puzzle.

[Kd5000]

Well the Nobel Prize for Literature has already been awarded for the year.  I suppose we'd have to try for this coming April.   

Actually, I know prizes in the sciences come with the USD equiv of 1.2 million.  I'm not sure if that applies to the literature award as the money for sciences is suppose to allow the award winner to continue his research (which can be costly). Many are RETIRED.   

My economic professor thought that some years an award for economics should not be handed out as nothing substantial had been turned out, so to speak.   However, I think there are many great writers around the world who go unrecognized.

I still respect the Nobel Prizes more the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.  If Proulx would win this award, it would be a crowing achievement for her contribution to literature. Let's face it, she's won every other literary award she qualifies for.